Great Expectations
by theonlyxception
Summary: They had talked about starting a family in a few years—but when parenthood comes knocking at their door sooner than they thought, will Jess and Rory be able to keep it together? Or will they in turn: find things crashing down? Sequel to "Middle of Me"
1. All's Fair With Benji

Tuesday. Just happened to be two months to the day that they had moved into their new house. And the three year anniversary of their marriage. But Tuesday started off like no other day that they had been living there.

"Jess, what are you doing?" Rory asked sleepily, staring up at Jess who was looked admiringly at her, his fingers tracing her hand.

"I was trying to decide if you were a modern Sleeping Beauty or Snow White when I see you sleeping."

Cocking her head to the side of the pillow, she broke out into a sleepy smile. "You are not." She gave him a playful swat on his shoulder. "I know that look. Something is up." Sitting up, she adjusted the pillow behind her back--merely missing the fact that he had just placed something on the floor very softly, the echo of a short thud, a sound almost missed to the human ear.

"What if I told you I might have a best seller on hand?" Before she could answer, he reached down and grabbed the book holding it in front of her to look at.

"No..." Her eyes lit up, a broad smile on her expression. Hands clasping onto the book as she read the author's name--Jess Mariano. Her husband. "When did this happen? It couldn't have been last night because last night we were still waiting to see if everything went through..." Okay, now she was just plain rambling.

Jess returned the smile. "This means that we can take that vacation in a few months time that we've been wanting to take since a year after we went on our honeymoon."

"Hello Ireland! I can hear it now, calling our names." She reluctantly handed him back the book, staring at it as if this whole moment wasn't real...that this book wasn't the one thing that would change their lives. But the fact was that it was, everything was changing. Rory took in a deep breath. "This is really happening isn't it?"

He gave her a soft smile back, as if he were still processing everything and they were in some daze. "It's really happening, Ror. Everything that we've been wishing for since the day that we met...okay, so not since the day that we meet, but ever since I knew that I wanted to write a book. Man, does it feel good." There was a slight pause and the two of them broke into a chuckle.

"And there is no Stars Hollow to share it with." Rory added, looking around at the quiet atmosphere. "No Patty...no Babette...Kirk...or Taylor."

He smiled at the thought. It was nice...but. "Technically Luke and your mom are part of Star's Hollow. Therefore..we're telling the whole town of Star's Hollow."

"Technically. But Luke and my mom don't hold town meetings in the middle of a dance studio whenever they need to talk about some one's lives."

"To that you hold a valid point." Jess pointed out placing the book on the dresser and taking her hand. Throwing the covers back he scooped her up. "Come on I made breakfast."

"This breakfast..." She inquired as they made their way into the hall.

"It includes coffee, Ror. I haven't forgotten that my wife has an obsession over coffee."

"And for that my stomach thanks you..."

Jess rolled his eyes genuinely at her, continuing . "...and if she had the time she would drive down to Luke's every morning just to see the look on his face, him knowing that you were going to ask for coffee and a full meal that between you and your mother an army could eat. That's why I made eggs, pancakes, and french toast."

"Anybody tell you you're an angel?" She asked as he let her walk down the stairs.

"You know me...a saint all around."

--

"Something wrong with the food?" Jess asked, setting down the steaming cup of coffee in front of her plate. "You've been picking at your food for the last five minutes."

Rory shook her head. "You know I can't wrap my finger around this. This whole pregnancy thing? I mean how do I know if I am...did you put something in these eggs? They don't taste the same since I tried them last."

"Ror slow down...you're taking this whole pregnancy thing a step too far." Placing his cup back down on the table, he scooted forward in his chair. "We've been trying on and off for the last few months. So if we are...we are. If we're not why should we worry? We're still young...and have our whole lives ahead of us."

"I know." She pointed out, taking another bite and grimacing. "I can't eat this." Pushing the plate away, she stayed stock still; face paling. "I think Benji needs a visit."

He watched her quickly walk to the bathroom. "You named the toilet?" A slight nod, and she closed the door behind her. Listening to his wife go through another round, he calmly went to the door of the bathroom knocking softly before entering and bending to her level. Ripping off a piece of toilet paper he wiped her mouth and placed it in the toilet before flushing and helping her stand on her feet.

"All's fair with Benji." Rory quipped walking over to the sink and washing her hands. At one point she caught her reflection in the mirror and groaned. Jess looked up and saw the same thing as she did.

Pale. White. Sick.

"And all is fair when your husband sends you back to bed." Rory groaned in protest, ready to argue even if she didn't really feel up to it. The light went off and she was steered away from the kitchen table- in order not to catch too much scent of the cooked eggs- into the living room. "Sit still I'm going to go to the store and get some things--like some nice soup, crackers and some 7 Up."

It was a wonder that they didn't have any of these things in their house. Although neither one of them had been sick recently. Pressing his lips gently on her forehead, he smiled reassuringly. "I love you."

"Love you too." He turned to go, "Oh Jess?..." then ended up turning back around. "Could you get a pregnancy test just in case? You know..."

He stood there momentarily. "Sure thing, Ror. I'll be back in a few minutes. And I meant it when I said sit still--no work."

So much for that Happy Anniversary.


	2. What We're Dealing With

A few minutes later the door shut and Rory laid her head against the pillow. Her thoughts piled in her mind as she thought about Jess...her, and possibly a pregnancy. The house was quiet right now with Jess gone and her just resting on the couch. Her thoughts strayed back to a child...her child...no, their child, laying in a pink bassinet right by the couch. What would she look like? Who would she look like? Rory shook her head, was this baby a she now? Poking her head up in the direction of the kitchen, Rory sat up, the room spinning before her--just at the small movements she made. In fact she would have to wait until Jess came home before she even proceeded to get up from this couch to call her mother.

Heart beating quickly, Rory laid back down on the couch with a relentless sigh. In fact as she laid there she was thinking of a growing list of things that she should be doing...for work, for the house...and Jess. Today was their anniversary and she had been planning to surprise him with an absolutely delicious meal that she knew that he would have never expected. One, because he knew that if he had ever let her touch the stove, she might burn something. Two, most of her life had been filled with takeout food, and lots of it. Three, what he didn't know now though is that she had taken a bunch of food courses over the past few months in order to make a simple but delicate meal just for the two of them.

In fact she had gone grocery shopping last night after Jess had fallen asleep. The past few days he had been working on a follow up novel to the first one that was now going on shelves in the coming week or so...and he had worn himself out to the bone in order to dish out the first three chapters of his next novel. She had never seen him work so hard, but when inspiration hit him he just went at it with everything that he had. And that was the last of her thoughts as she drifted out to sleep with a smile on her face.

And that's where he found her a half an hour later as he closed the door quietly behind him. Grocery bags in hand, he went right past her and set the groceries onto the table. Unpacking them, he embraced the quiet atmosphere of their house. He focused on the baby doll face and the quiet whimpers and cries of a child...his child. Digging through the bags until he had found the pregnancy test, he set it down onto the table at easy reach before putting the other items in their right places. Orange juice, milk, 7-Up--into the fridge. Crackers, soup and pudding--into the cupboard.

He cleared the table of all the empty bags, sticking them underneath the sink in a brown paper bag. The only thing left was the box with the pregnancy test in it. This was going to be the result of what they were both wondering now... was there a baby in their future? Or was this something else? Either result that they got would be the life changing. Although bringing up a child would always bring new lessons, if it were sickness such as cancer, he didn't know if he could cope.

For sickness or for health... The vows they had taken three years ago... then it hit him...the one thing that he had forgotten when he had been at the store were some flowers for Rory. He had been planning on stopping at the new flower shop that they had opened in the store while he was there, but the lines were long enough that he had walked right out the door with the groceries in his hand.

Grabbing the keys from his pocket, Jess went out the back way into the garage and opened the door. It was no use walking back the other way in possibility that it would wake up Rory. And as much as he didn't like parking in the driveway, he had promised Rory that he wouldn't park his car on his side, until he had gone through everything on the shelf on his side. Man had that become a disaster area.

Unlocking his car, he got in and closed the garage door with the click of the opener before backing down the short driveway. It seemed like it took less time to get back to the store then it took to get back home with the groceries. His strides had gotten longer as he walked across the parking lot and through the first two doors, making a sharp left as he strolled into the flower shop. It took another several minutes before he had found the right bouquet of flowers that Rory might like, and again he was out the door and back home in a matter of minutes. World record in his books.

When he walked back into the house, through the garage of course, the house was still silent. That only meant one thing; Rory was still most likely sound asleep. Good. At this point she needed all the rest that she could get. That and he could use the element of surprise in his favor. Like a quiet jack of cards. Smiling he found an empty vase and set them on the counter. Taking out the card next he wrote a short message, that he loved her and that he was glad that she was his wife--and that together they would continue to celebrate life together, no matter what happened--then sealed the envelope, wrote her name on the front and stuck the envelope between the flowers.

He hoped this would cheer her up some after she had gotten some rest. It wasn't just him who had been busy lately. Rory had been working endlessly on articles for the paper she worked for. In fact they hadn't been expecting for quite awhile for Rory to become an editor for the newspaper. But she had and seemingly everything was falling into place. And they had both been tired and exhausted lately--which didn't leave much time for the two of them being together.

Except for earlier last week when they had caught a minute to show their love to one another--to talk--it wasn't like they hadn't talked, but it had been limited. For the past few months he had been home writing while she had gone to work and then she would come home at five to which he would make dinner for the two of them. But one night they took it a step further. Funny what too much wine can do to a person.

"Jess?" Rory's voice trailed from the living room into the kitchen. Quickly he scooped up the box from the table and walked into the living room where Rory was laying against her pillow. Her cheeks were a nice rosy color and her eyes were filled with a cloud of sleepiness.

"Feeling any better?" Brushing his hand against her forehead he slyly checked to see if she had a fever as he brushed away a few stray hairs from her eyes.

"Not really. My head feels like it's spinning like a wheel--or more like a Ferris wheel if you want to get down to the very details." She joked quietly, closing her eyes then reopening them. And although her cheeks showed slight color, her face was still pale.

"That's why I bought you soup, 7-up...pudding"

"Soup, Jess?" She offered him a sleepy smile, snuggling into the couch. "I've heard that pregnant woman want real food." Teasing him, she closed her eyes again. Was it possible to keep her eyes open more than a few minutes at a time? Prying her eyes open she gazed at him for his reaction.

"Well I can cook you some real food if you can keep down what I give you..because right now even eggs are the enemy in your books."

Smiling, she rolled carefully to her right side. "Speaking of books, when do I get to read this finished novel of yours?" Poking him lightly in the chest, her fingers shook. Seeing this he wrapped them lightly in his before setting them softly on the couch.

"When you're able to stand, and keep down a whole meal."

"Deal."

"... But first lets see what that pregnancy test says so we know what we're dealing with." He held out his hand taking hers carefully and brought her to an upright level, slowly. Wrapping his arms around hers he led her to the bathroom, sat her down on the closed toilet seat before going to get the pregnancy test. By the time five minutes had passed, they had the results that they were looking for. Helping Rory stand, they looked at the results of the stick together. And It took a moment for them to wrap their heads around the fact that--after looking at the box--they found they were looking at another positive sign of pregnancy.

A swirl of emotions circled around them; time seemed to slow as they took in every breath. There was confusion, anxiousness, happiness...then back to confusion. They hardly knew what to expect, how to completely react...and yet they knew nothing much about pregnancy except for what they had learned while in high school. Even now, that had seemed like it had been a long time. Okay it had been a long time, and yet the last pregnancy had been subjected to was her mother's pregnancy. Not to mention that he or she would be joining in some way, Jess' and her siblings; April, Gigi, Doula, and William.


	3. Half Gilmore

Clenching her jaw, she finally let it drop as she stared at the wall in front of her. "I'm...pregnant?" She said the last word slowly as if she absorbed every letter and every syllable. Despite feeling weak just a minute ago, she straightened and Jess' arm dropped from her waist. "I can't even comprehend, who? what? when?!" Frustration was rising; Jess hadn't said one word, in fact he hadn't even moved from the spot where he was still standing.

It was suppose to be a joke, and yet the opposite of joy was creeping upon him. Her words were finally branching out to memory, his eyes slowly danced upon her--watching, unprepared and realizing that they were both hardly ready to be parents.

_No...no, no!_ Most possibly they could have waited at least another two years. Maybe.

Going back to that last thought. Jess thought and absently shifted his leg back so his back was resting against the wall. Siblings--hardly connected siblings. Almost groaning in his sigh, in the corner of his eye he saw Rory checking the pregnancy test, then looking back up, sucking in a breath, staring at the opposite wall and then repeating the process. She did that almost three times before stepping back and joining him against the wall. Emitting her own sigh she slid down, tucking her knees against her chest.

Her action startled him out of his own thoughts. His hand reached out reflexively to catch her arm but his fingers fell short as they brushed against her shoulder and it took a moment before he gazed down to see her nearly in tears. Clearly they were both in check for a meltdown. Very soon.

Jess sighed, letting out a breath he never knew that he had been holding before letting his own body sink down to the floor beside her. As soon as he settled, she spoke. "What about everything we worked for? Our careers?" The silence was surprisingly stunning almost throwing both of them back into shock.

"Are we going to let it ruin our careers?" Jess inquired his answer to hers with numbing emotion. Yet it was still a good question. Would it? Not it...baby. Would their baby do that? Would it be so time consuming that they let their careers slip through the cracks? Everything they had worked for? And yet how did they know they were going to raise this child in the right way? There was only so much humor tolerated and both Rory and Jess knew that it was going to take so much more than humor to raise a child.

Okay, so there would be a little bit of humor. In fact this child would be half Gilmore. Jess cracked a smile, almost chuckling to himself. Rory just looked over at him, tears brimming in her eyes from before, in fact she was looking at him like he was acting crazy. "I'm sorry, but you have to know this kid will definitely be Gilmore material."

She sniffled as it all started to set in, and the next thing they were both sitting there on the tile floor, laughing. It even took a few minutes before they stopped, and seemed ironic that a minute ago they were about to have a meltdown and now they were laughing--hard. At first she didn't even know why they were. Then it started to set in that there would be some humor in this after all. The pregnancy. Raising their child. Despite the up and down period they were starting at right now.

It was quiet again between them--the air slightly cleared--tears almost forgotten. But there was still that question lingering in both of their minds. How were they going to do this? Just when both of their careers were looking up, they were faced with the shifting atmosphere of bringing a child into this world. "How are we going to do this Jess? I mean seriously we're not teenagers anymore, which doesn't exactly mean that we're ready for this." Pointing down at her stomach she stood up abruptly and leaned against the wall, hand pushing her hair back as she let out a deep breath of air.

Jess stood up slowly knowing there was a Gilmore rant coming on. He knew that look in her eyes, the expression that told him that she was thinking of several things all at once. "It's not like we meant for it to happen."

Clenching her jaw, she finally let it drop as she stared at the wall in front of her. "I'm...pregnant?" She said the last word slowly as if she absorbed every letter and every syllable. Despite feeling weak just a minute ago, she straightened and Jess' arm dropped from her waist. "I can't even comprehend, who? what? when?!" Frustration was rising; Jess hadn't said one word, in fact he hadn't even moved from the spot where he was still standing.

It was suppose to be a joke, and yet the opposite of joy was creeping upon him. Her words were finally branching out to memory, his eyes slowly danced upon her--watching, unprepared and realizing that they were both hardly ready to be parents.

No...no, no! Most possibly they could have waited at least another two years. Maybe.

Going back to that last thought. Jess thought and absently shifted his leg back so his back was resting against the wall. Siblings--hardly connected siblings. Almost groaning in his sigh, in the corner of his eye he saw Rory checking the pregnancy test, then looking back up, sucking in a breath, staring at the opposite wall and then repeating the process. She did that almost three times before stepping back and joining him against the wall. Emitting her own sigh she slid down, tucking her knees against her chest.

Her action startled him out of his own thoughts. His hand reached out reflexively to catch her arm but his fingers fell short as they brushed against her shoulder and it took a moment before he gazed down to see her nearly in tears. Clearly they were both in check for a meltdown. Very soon.

Jess sighed, letting out a breath he never knew that he had been holding before letting his own body sink down to the floor beside her. As soon as he settled, she spoke. "What about everything we worked for? Our careers?" The silence was surprisingly stunning almost throwing both of them back into shock.

"Are we going to let it ruin our careers?" Jess inquired his answer to hers with numbing emotion. Yet it was still a good question. Would it? Not it...baby. Would their baby do that? Would it be so time consuming that they let their careers slip through the cracks? Everything they had worked for? And yet how did they know they were going to raise this child in the right way? There was only so much humor tolerated and both Rory and Jess knew that it was going to take so much more than humor to raise a child.

Okay, so there would be a little bit of humor. In fact this child would be half Gilmore. Jess cracked a smile, almost chuckling to himself. Rory just looked over at him, tears brimming in her eyes from before, in fact she was looking at him like he was acting crazy. "I'm sorry, but you have to know this kid will definitely be Gilmore material."

She sniffled as it all started to set in, and the next thing they were both sitting there on the tile floor, laughing. It even took a few minutes before they stopped, and seemed ironic that a minute ago they were about to have a meltdown and now they were laughing--hard. At first she didn't even know why they were. Then it started to set in that there would be some humor in this after all. The pregnancy. Raising their child. Despite the up and down period they were starting at right now.

It was quiet again between them--the air slightly cleared--tears almost forgotten. But there was still that question lingering in both of their minds. How were they going to do this? Just when both of their careers were looking up, they were faced with the shifting atmosphere of bringing a child into this world. "How are we going to do this Jess? I mean seriously we're not teenagers anymore, which doesn't exactly mean that we're ready for this." Pointing down at her stomach she stood up abruptly and leaned against the wall, hand pushing her hair back as she let out a deep breath of air.

Jess stood up slowly knowing there was a Gilmore rant coming on. He knew that look in her eyes, the expression that told him that she was thinking of several things all at once. "It's not like we meant for it to happen."

She looked up at him with doubt. "We could have waited. I mean, couldn't we have waited...you know to have a child?" Taking a few baby steps towards him she groaned as she buried herself in the comfort of his body. She stayed that way several minutes as his fingers brushed comfortingly through his hair. After a few minutes after calming somewhat she looked up at his still frame. "You know you haven't said too much about this. What are you thinking?"

"Like I could be hit with a sledge hammer right now, and yet I'd be pretty okay with it." He nodded his agreement to the way he felt right now. In fact he couldn't make out in words everything that he was feeling right now, only that he could compare it to a sledge hammer and a tone that told her that he didn't want to talk about it right now.

Dropping her head back on his chest, he hugged her tighter. They stayed like that for the next few minutes, until she felt her legs tiring from standing up for too long. "Umm...Jess." Offering with a muffled sigh, she tried to move only to feel a tight resistance from his arms around her. A few seconds later she felt them loosen to which she stood straight. Taking one look at the look at the expression on his face, she added just for good measure, since neither one of them was in a great condition to be standing. "Maybe we should go sit down on the couch." He didn't move, and she grabbed his arm. Yet he still didn't budge. "I'm going to need a little help here. Remember? Sick wife. Pregnant sick wife..." She hinted which snapped him half way out of the trance he was in.

They stopped right outside the bathroom frame at an abrupt stop before Rory remembered that the light needed to be turned off. Stepping around him with her arm looped around his, she snaked her fingers around the corner and flicked the light off before stepping across the kitchen and both landed back on the couch in the living room, where they further let the news sink in.

Sitting next to each other they were quiet, until Jess mumbled. "You know our kid is going to be calling us mom and dad before we know it." Rory took that in with a tilt of her head as she straightened her back.

"Don't forget the walking...and the crawling. Although the crawling comes before walking." Rory stated, correcting herself on what she did know about kids. "Diapers..."

"And lots of them." He sighed, even his lip curled a bit with an amused smile. "Looks like we're not completely useless on the subject of kids."

Rory gave him an uneasy smile, although it was more for reassurance then for the fact that they were just sitting here throwing out things they knew about kids."When William was born, Luke and my mom resembled zombies. In fact I remember her falling asleep on the phone when she was talking to me."

"Well that's something we don't have to worry about. We're already use to not getting much sleep."

"True. Except I heard horror stories from Lane about the nonstop crying--really soothing." Rory cast in partial sarcasm, putting her head on his shoulder.

T_his moment right here, was the beginning of a long road in the adventures of pregnancy._


	4. Late Night Endeavors

A sporadic update while multi-tasking. I owe it to my growing music collection for keeping me sane. Even though I'll be dropping a bit from the fanfiction world after I finish my two latest stories.

--

Lorelai rolled over at the shrill ring of her cell phone. Blurry-eyed she looked at the clock on the nightstand; five o'clock grinned happily back at her in bright green numbers. Her sleepy eyes closed momentarily as she groaned; letting her head sink back into the pillow. Although that was a short-lived action she reached out her arm and blindly grabbed for her cell phone that was still buzzing. But who in their right mind would call at five in the morning?

Taking one look at the caller ID her silent answer was no more and she flipped open her phone, slipped out of the covers and ran a hand over her son's hair before walking out of the room. "You know this will call for payback." Lorelai finally whispered into the phone as she snuck downstairs. "But this does prove my method that at least you can't wake the dead." She referred to her son and husband and the warm comfort that she had left behind.

"I already feel like the waking dead that you talk of." Rory absently rubbed her forehead, trying to starve the headache that was coming on as she sat at the table and shivered, holding the phone to her ear.

Lorelai offered a quiet regard. "Oh well you're not carrying something like the bubonic plague or something like that you'll have to live in a bubble for the rest of your life, are you? because then I might have to have to start sending you food in the form of mail."

Rory let out a tired half chuckle. "No, but I did hear that nesting is the new high when you would like to sleep but can't." There was a silent gasp and then a pause on the other end of the line.

Lorelai's eyes got wide. "Nesting. Please say it's the kind of nesting where you're redecorating you're house and need some pointers, kind of nesting."

Looking around, Rory found one box out of the many that had been sitting around her house. In the corner she found there was only one box to be unpacked and was filled with some pictures that she planned to put up on the fireplace of their family room when she had a minute. In fact she planned to one day to make this place feel a little more like home. "Actually all boxes and contents are accounted for."

Sighing Lorelai relaxed her voice before straightening and balancing her cell phone on her shoulder as she put on a pot of coffee, "Which technically leaves the other kind of nesting." While filling in the blanks of what hadn't already been said out loud. "And I can already feel that you're putting on a silent endeavor while you're marching on a dusty trail, so spill it missy. You just woke me up at five in the morning and there is no way right now that you can be so calm."

Taking in a deep breath, the words just tumbled out in rambling form for the next fifteen minutes. "...suddenly I can't eat, can't sleep and not to mention having an inversion to food and really hoping right now for a good cup of coffee." Rory ended, leaning against the palm of her hand.

Lorelai sighed. "That's what they say happens in pregnancy. And I hear you hon, but at least you feel better now that you got it all out?"

Rory sighed as well, realizing that she did feel better. "Much. Hey how did Luke really take it when you told him about your pregnancy?"

"Quite shocked at first actually but he soon got over it and now I haven't seen him happier to get home after a long day at work. And the fact that you've told Jess doesn't mean that you two won't ease into it. It's hard work but also very rewarding. If I had even thought for one time and gone along with living with my parents while raising you, I'm pretty sure neither one of us would have survived, but the fact is that we still both moved on and we survived."

"You know what they say, survival of the fittest..."

"Always survives? Hey you're not thinking about going to work today are you? Because you could totally play hooky and come hang out with me in grand Star's Hollow. Perhaps even snag a fresh cup of Jo from Luke's and see your brother and not to mention your mother who misses you ever so dearly."

"Would love to follow up on my coffee addiction that you gave me while I was in the womb but I have a meeting at eight with the boss of all bosses that I cannot miss."

"And are you sure that boss wouldn't mistake you for a ghost or most likely the dead? From what I've heard, you sound like you're in no shape to meet with the "boss of all bosses" Lorelai emphasized with a twist of hope that her daughter would change her mind.

"Are you actually hearing me here?" Rory asked, half teasing. "because it still sounds like somebody is still half asleep."

"Ah sweets, we are way past the half asleep mark. Try insanely zombified. Between work, the town of Star's Hollow and William's late night endeavors, I'm thinking I have the half asleep thing covered to a tee. Amazingly enough the Dragonfly Inn still stands. Not to mention my coffee offer still stands because you know Luke doesn't have to know..."

"I don't have to know what?" Luke's sleepy voice broke in as his feet dragged along the kitchen tiles.

"Mm.." Lorelai lifted her head, looking over him. "That Rory has a serious addiction to coffee and that she's missing your extra delicious coffee from the diner?" She smiled graciously licking her lips just for the occasion; effortlessly bringing out the lines in cover.

"And she called to tell you all that?" Inquiring, he wasn't quite convinced, but Lorelai nodded anyway. "At five in the morning because you know it is five in the morning--well past five now, and I'd have to guess that you've been down here talking on the phone for the last hour because I've woken up several times and neither of those times were you in bed."

"Hey at least our son is still sleeping--there's a plus right there. Rory on the other hand isn't." Lorelai pointed out as he grabbed a cup from the cabinet, then proceeded to fill it up with water.

He shrugged in agreement, taking a sip. "That is a plus." nodded towards the phone, "She have a fight with Jess?"

"Not exactly." Lorelai threw over her shoulder as she put her mouth back up to the receiver, "More like she just got the shock of her life."

"You know he won't give me coffee if you tell him." Rory threw in as a warning measure, "He'll give me decaf instead."

"I would never let that happen sweets." Smiling up at Luke, he finished swallowing and put his glass in the sink.

"Okay, you know what I think that it's a bit too early to be playing games with my mind, so I'm going to go get ready before I head over to the diner." Standing there for a minute, he pointed towards the stairs and then left.

It was silent on both ends of the line as they listened for Luke's departure back up the stairs. Momentarily after hearing nothing, Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay kid it's safe to say that he's gone now, so get out what you were going to say because this caboose realizes that it needs to have its own departure to leave the train station on time."

"On the other hand I realize now that coffee would taste better if I had a doughnut."

"Spoken like a true junk food addict. So is it safe to that I can see you at lunch?"

"I could definitely do lunch. I have nothing better to do after the meeting, and Jess doesn't really seem to want to talk about all this."

"Don't worry kid, he'll come around."


	5. Juicy Details Of Life

At exactly one minute before noon, Rory walked through the door and slumped down in her chair. "Luke, coffee." she chanted at him from the table. He nodded at her sympathetically from behind the counter and poured her a hot steaming cup before placing it in front of her, to which she inhaled before taking a much needed sip. In fact, one craving eliminated; while in the same minute she realized that her mother wasn't sitting across from her, but rather that there was a half drained cup of coffee on the other side of the table. "Where's my mom?"

Gesturing behind him with a twist of his shoulder in the general direction of the bathroom. "Rory" Luke greeted, "She's changing William. The usual burger and fries with a strawberry shake?"

"And a jelly filled doughnut." Nodding again, he turned to head towards the kitchen. "Oh and fries, lots and lots of fries."

He sighed, "One load of junk food coming right up." Once again he turned to go.

"With barbecue sauce."

Slowly Luke turned his head, eyeing her suspiciously. "On your hamburger?"

Making a silent yup with her mouth, Rory nodded. "Don't forget the mustard."

Raising his eyebrow, Luke stepped towards the table. "You're seriously debating mixing mustard with barbecue sauce on your hamburger?" Both of them heard the bathroom door close, besides the familiar babbling of William and quick footsteps of Lorelai.

Rory let her cheek rest against the palm of her hand; elbow hanging towards the edge of the table. "I'll love you forever. Don't make me sing the song. I love you, always forever..."

That was convincing enough as Luke scribbled something down on his pad. "Okay. One special hamburger, coming right up." With that he left, passing William and Lorelai on the way back to the kitchen.

Lorelai eyed her daughter as she passed William to her; to which William squealed happily as Rory bounced him up and down with her legs. "What just happened? because it just sounded like you tortured Luke into giving you a hamburger with mustard and barbecue sauce." Picking up her coffee, she took a sip. "Those cravings are really getting to you aren't they?"

"That and I haven't been able to keep anything down for the last day." Rory's voice got quieter as Luke passed their table; he was making coffee rounds and delivering to other various customers in the diner. "As long as there are no eggs, I'll be fine."

Lorelai raised her eyebrow but said nothing further as Rory drained her own cup of coffee while continually entertaining William by bouncing him in her lap. And besides the continual mild chatter of the customers, conversation and silence between the three of them stood at a standstill. That is until a muffled scraping noise outside of the diner followed by a loud bang and the echo of the diner bell from impact against the door.

"I'm okay." The muffled, pained groan of an unscathed Kirk with the full helmet, knee and elbow pads on, as well as rollerblades; not mention he was standing in close proximity to the door. The palm of his hands and cheek were resting against the window and moments later proceeded to slide down the window with a squeaking sound, almost losing his balance as he rocked on his rollerblades.

A lot of the customers in the diner, almost all tourists shook there heads and went back to what they were doing. All three of them looked away; Rory pushed her cup towards the middle of the table, William found more interest in the car toy in hands, while Lorelai traced her index finger around the rim of her cup, all the while looking longingly towards the kitchen--finally giving a impatient sigh and sat back against her chair.

The certain ring of the diner made her straighten, and the rolling sound on the diner floor only gave her mocking incentive to snicker as Luke made his way out of the kitchen carrying a customer's plate of food. He didn't have to look up to realize the loud thumping sound had come from Kirk as he took one look at the diner door. No damage was done yet. "No rollerblades in the diner Kirk. You know the rules." Setting the food in front the customer, he kept one eye on Kirk who was griping onto the counter--only having to turn around; head bowed as he carefully made his way out of the diner again.

Lorelai stole a glance out the big window where she and almost everybody else in the dinner who was paying attention witnessed Kirk struggling to take off his rollerblades--almost falling in the process, until he had sucessfully taken off the blades, shifting them underneath his arm as he walked back into the diner to which Luke took one carefully look at his two shoeless feet and pointed gruffly at the sign. "No shoes, no service Kirk."

"Ah, come on Luke!" Kirk protested, sitting at the stool at the counter. Luckily he was the only one up there. "I'm starving and I've been practicing for the roller derby for almost the day. May I remind you that I'm a paying customer."

Luke gathered up the empty coffee cups and plates from an unoccupied table. "I don't care if you're a paying customer Kirk, I want you to get some shoes on."

The expression on Kirk's face fell slightly. "Well that's just great. I left my shoes at home."

Giving him another stern look, Luke threw back over his shoulder as he headed back into the kitchen with a full load of dishes in his hand. "Then I guess you'll just have to go get them. There is no way that I'm serving you without them." And with that Luke disappeared into the back; dishes could be heard clanging in the sink.

Getting up, he padded over to where Rory, Lorelai and William sat with much contentment. "Do you think you could..."

"The answer is no Kirk." Lorelai answered without looking up at him to know the expression on his face and the question in his mind.

Clicking his fingers., he muttered on his way out of the diner. "Darn, nothing is to my advantage." And with that he left and the diner was once again filled with aimless chatter, except over at this table. Which was highly unusual.

"Quick, tell me more about this Jess thing because I think you told me everything except the juicy details of your life." Lorelai quipped, eyeing the kitchen to make sure that Luke was nowhere in hearing range of their conversation.

Sitting up and adjusting William on her lap, Rory drained the rest of her coffee before William had a chance to dunk his fingers into the semi-warm liquid. "Well we talked, and after we talked we stopped talking. Something we were talking about made him stop talking. I mean what I don't get is that he was so excited about having a child in the first place and then there was nothing--"

"What exactly do you mean when you say there was nothing?" Both sat back in the chair, realizing Luke was walking towards them with their lunch. "Like as somebody let the cat out of the bag or--"

"One hamburger with mustard and barbeque sauce." Luke cut in, placing the plate in front of Rory. "And one extra loaded hamburger." That he placed in front of Lorelai. "And don't even think about giving our son any of this." His finger circled the two plates as he eyed Lorelai and went back behind the counter.

As if by clockwork, William reached out to Rory's plate and grabbed a handful of fries and stuck them in his mouth before they could stop him. "Well hun, I think it's a little too late to stop that one." quipping, Lorelai gazed up at Luke and waited for him to turn around to put a visual to his son's happy munching. Luke turned and took one quick glance at his son munching on a handful of fries as Lorelai shot him an innocent look and laughed "I have the right to say that I had no doing for that one."

Luke gazed back over at his son, his expression eventually softening as he was greeted by a bumble of his son's overjoyed face. He scoffed teasingly, "Right. Well lucky for you, our son gets plenty of vegtables."

--

End of Part I. Thank you to all those who have reviewed. Those who haven't please click the review button and review! It takes less time to leave one then it does to write a story. Unless you're thinking of writing me a novel like one, which would probably never happen but still I would be overjoyed if you reviewed! Please don't make me resort to begging and pleading.


	6. Pirate Talk

You would think the muse would let me update GE a little more often, especially since deciding this would be the last installement of my Rory/Jess series. I don't know, maybe it's my muse's way of protesting--who knows. But can't argue with her now for letting me update. Even a whole week in advance before Christmas.

-----

Ten minutes however, their plates were cleared of any food, that and William was fast asleep in Rory's arms. After his debut of a handful of fries--a start to being a true Gilmore--William's head lolled to the side, his cheek rested against her arm and his eyes slowly shut closed. A sign that it was past his nap time, or rather that he hadn't gotten much sleep the last few days and hadn't let anyone else either, but now he was the one taking the nap.

Leaning back against her chair, Lorelai gave a sigh of envy. "What it would be like to explore the leisurely life of a little kid who eats, sleeps and plays."

"I don't know, but I would like to think of William just as capable of giving Kirk a run for his money in the near future." Rory added in, shifting William to her other arm with ease.

Leaning forward with a smirk on her face, Lorelai stated. "You clearly missed the part where William peed on Kirk with a smile on his face. Or not to mention the the time where he made Kirk fall over a chair while Kirk proceeded to chase William around the room.

"I think you left that little detail out of the loop."

"Clearly we need to talk more if you want me to give you all the juicy details. And that is why my dear, Kirk's ideas for starting a daycare have been shot down. He was practically chasing William because he deemed it necessary to watch him in the first place. Not to mention that he was talking to him through a stuffed animal in a weird creepy voice."

Rory visibly shuddered with the visual and noted this to memory for future use. Kirk was never going to watch her kid. Glancing over as Luke worked, Rory inquired. "What do you think Luke would do if I told him he was about to become a grandpa?"

Lorelai took one glance over at him, "If you're asking if he would freak out like Jess did, I would tell you that the difference between telling the father of your kid that you were pregnant over telling somebody say, Luke. It would be quite a different reaction. Luke would never admit this but at first he was the freaked out over the idea of being a father. Especially when I told him that it wasn't a girl."

"Luke actually wanted the baby to be a girl?"

Lorelai nodded, a smile creeping onto her face. "I think secretly he wanted our love child to be a junk food loving Gilmore."

"No I don't." Luke called out of the blue, making both women sharply look in the direction of his voice. He popped up behind the counter. "Of course I never said that I never wanted a girl."

"Why Lukie, have you been eavesdropping?" Lorelai called back teasingly, clearly enjoying this moment.

"No, I was not eavesdropping. I was grabbing a roll of paper towels to put back in the kitchen. We're out." Verifying that he had been doing so, he held up a roll of paper towels in his hand. His clear expression detailed that he smelled suspicion. "And I see my only line of sane defense is out like a light." He waved the roll over in William's direction.

"I'll go ahead and take that first part as a compliment." Lorelai quipped eagerly as Luke exchanged a glance with Rory who looked uncomfortable and was leaning back in her chair. All this light baby business talk was catching up with her and making her dizzy. In fact she had barely gotten settled with finding out; she just wondered if Luke had been nearby enough to hear the word "grandpa" pop out of her mouth. In fact she wasn't quite sure why it felt so awkward to just open her mouth and tell him, _"I'm pregnant." _The look he was giving her was confused and unsettled, somewhere deep beneath the unsound recognition of where his thoughts were taking him.

That same look of unsound recognition reminded her of Jess. Like him, the thought only needed a few minutes to boot up and kick in.

Rory sat up abruptly, efficiently jostling William in the process. Of course she had been so caught up in her thoughts and forgotten that her half brother was still lying asleep comfortably in her lap. Rocking him back and forth she saw his little eyelids shoot open, his eyes lazily rolling sleepily as they closed again--all in a moment's glance. Both Luke and Lorelai were gazing in her direction. Luke looked concerned at her jumpy, secretive nature. Lorelai took on more of an expression of understanding as she already knew of the situation.

"Thanks Mom for lunch. Luke, the coffee and food was great as usual--but I should really get going. The house looks like a complete disaster zone and I really want to get it all cleaned up before Jess gets home from work." Handing over William to her mother, he didn't stir.

"Hey. Just guessing here, but you and Jess didn't happen to have one of your big fights, did you?" Reaching over he took their plates, stacking them and placing them on the counter.

"I'm not sure that we could even call it a fight. With Jess hitting the best seller with me working like crazy with the newspaper, we haven't really had a lot of time just to talk about anything. Important things." Rory nodded, shoving on her jacket.

"Important things, right." Repeating those words, Luke sighed. "You're a married woman now. Not to mention that life takes important turns." He hinted while gathering the rest of their dishes into hand. And then he stopped. "Did you just say best seller?"

Rory shrugged, nodding her head. "That's what Jess seems to think. He's been spending a lot of time on this one, so I don't see why it couldn't be possible."

Lorelai smiled. "That's great hun. So when you go off on a famous world tour together, please don't forget to write or send us a postcard telling us of all things that would make anyone-- mainly meaning me and anyone in Stars Hollow--jealous."

Sputtering, the side of Luke's mouth lifted into a smile. Not an obvious one as not to gain attention; there would always be time for a private celebration later. "When did he find out?... I mean about this whole book thing. So it's really a go?"

"It's definitely a go. I haven't heard about all the juicy details yet." Rory turned directly to her mother, her tone implying that they would talk about the pregnancy, somewhere safer than the gossip town of Stars Hollow. "But when I do you guys should definitely come over."

"Ah well, you know that we wouldn't miss it for the world. Right, Luke?" One subtle almost nod that could have been easily overlooked, Lorelai gave her daughter as she glanced towards the door and back.

"Nope, wouldn't miss it. Just tell us a date and a time and we'll be there." Rocking from his heels to his toes, he looked around the diner and saw a couple of customers enter the diner. "And that's my cue for getting back to work.". Nodding towards the customers that had chosen their seat near the window on the other side of the diner, he took their dishes and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Bye Luke." Waving before he had disappeared, Luke nodded back with his arms full of dishes.

Lorelai smiled expectantly, "Well hun, just remember this is the day..."

"That you almost caught Jack Sparrow."

"Well no, that's not exactly what I was going to say, but good comeback. Now I know what to quote you on the next time that I see you and want to watch an action packed movie. Nothing like swashbuckling pirates to rule the night. Argh! " Lorelai imitated a pirate call while pretending to hold an invisible sword in her hand. Luke looked over her but continued to serve the customers their preferred drinks as they looked over the menu.

"Well then come on pirate, you and your captive can walk me to the plank door." Rory acted more in mock defeat as they walked her to the door. As soon as they were out of the obvious reach of curious ears, Rory added. "I promise to fill you in as soon as I know every detail. I just really need time to think about all this. It's really just a lot to take in."

"It is a lot to take in. But just remember we're here for you when you decide you want to talk." Lorelai let her know that there was support on her side, that she wasn't alone on this. "Besides, this is both mine and Luke's grandson or granddaughter's future we're talking about here."

"I know." Rory sighed. "Bye Mom."

"Oh bye hun." Lorelai sighed as well, hugging her daughter. "I love you so much. You know that don't you?"

"Yes, I know that. Only because you've reminded me of that every day since I was born."

"That's because I meant it. And still do, very much." Lorelai pointed out, shifting a still sleeping William in her arms.

"I know you do...and I love you too; more than you know."

"No, I love you more. And that my dear, is a fact. I love you more than anything in this world, and I wouldn't have changed anything in my future for you not to know that."

"Not even for coffee?"

"Not even for coffee." Lorelai shook her head, with a smile. Rory sighed and figured that it was time to leave. "Rory?" Catching her attention, she turned back towards her mother. The sun beating on the back of her jacket. "Deep breath, hun. I promise it only gets better."

---

Like usual, please review. It doesn't have to be long, but I do appreciate any reviews that I get. I promise that on the Christmas carols that I keep listening to.


	7. Fall Into Ruins

Walking through the door of the house, Rory found herself exhausted and ready for a nap. However, knowing that the house was a mess and of course dinner wasn't going to cook itself, she shrugged off her jacket and hung it in the hall closet. Taking in a much needed deep breath that she hadn't allowed until now, she sighed and began to work.

First on the list was the kitchen; crumbs, old newspapers that were still rolled, sitting on top of the counter. Some day old dishes, as well as some that had been sitting in the sink for at least the last week, neglected and unwashed. The rounded oak table was the same way; home to piles of papers, her laptop computer sitting just beyond that pile. Since taking her dream job, she also found opportunities stacking up and appearing.

Taking all newspapers off the counter, she shifted them onto the table. As much as she wanted to throw them in the recycling bin immediately, she still had a duty on keeping up with the daily news, competition and articles. But she had a feeling that reading and catching up would have to wait until another day.

Walking back up to the kitchen sink to grab a washcloth, she then proceeded to wash off the counter and loaded all dirty dishes into the dishwasher. All that was left in the sink then was a large pan; while a cutting board, spatula, and a glass bowl sat to the side.

Filling up the sink, she washed all the dishes and stacked them carefully in the drainer. By the time she had finished it was already one forty-five and she was drained. Eyeing the table chair that had already been pulled back, her legs wobbled slightly and then she remembered that she had been standing all day long, as well as on and off for probably for the last week.

Placing her hands on the counter, she wondered when the last time she had drank anything. Between the shock of pregnancy, work, and constant nausea, it had probably been awhile. Well besides the strawberry shake at lunch that she now realized had not quenched her thirst.

Grabbing a glass out of the cabinet, she filled up her glass and eagerly gulped it down just as quickly as she had filled it up. Setting her glass down, she took a moment to look around. The kitchen was clean, well besides the table. But maybe that could wait as she still had a lot of work to do, and relocating before it had been all finished would not help any. Especially since she had managed to get half of it down, as well as a partial amount when she had gotten off the phone with her mom earlier this morning.

Both the family room and living room still needed to be vacuumed; In fact she wasn't sure when the last time they had been. Just the thought made her thirsty and she filled up her glass once more, this time however she drank a bit slower. The nausea was returning and she didn't like the sound of kneeling over Benji once more, releasing that hamburger, fries and shake that she had gobbled up during lunch.

Perhaps it would be better if she went to go lay down for a little while. Leaving her glass on the counter, she made her way to the couch and laid down. Closing her eyes, she hoped that if she laid here for a little while, she would be okay and the nausea would go away if she stayed still.

However when she stirred from what she thought was only a short nap, Rory laid there with slight disorientation and wondered what had woken her. The house was silent, that she knew for sure. If Jess had come home, he would have at least come to check up on her, wouldn't he? Sitting up, she looked around. The kitchen light that she had left on before abruptly going to lay down was still on. The rest of the house was dark and almost too eerily quiet.

She perked an ear towards the stairs, nothing came. Towards the kitchen, still quietness. So that most likely meant that he was still likely at work. _What time was it any way? _Rory stood and headed into the kitchen, peering at the microwave for the time. She had left her watch upstairs after it had started pinching her wrist. Noting the time, she sucked in a deep breath. Any other day Jess would come bounding through the garage door into the house, briefcase in hand. No matter what he always had a kiss for her.

That had been when they had time to talk, to tell each other of their days--before they had both become so busy that they had forgotten what it had meant to be a couple, for what they had left behind about their marriage and life. In fact their kid conversation seemed a bit ironic now that she thought about it; if having a kid would let them ruin their career. What kid ruins a career? But rather a kid is considered a blessing, a true blessing. Same would go with marriage. One that you truly love should be a blessing, and yet marriage should not ever be allowed to fall into ruins.

Unfortunately they had forgotten that. It wasn't that they were worried about a child, or even about their own marriage. It was that they had let their careers take over their lives; in the place of the other, of a child--and what was most important. The connection of their lives, the building of a family and a relationship.

----

They had talked, but not for the right reasons. He had taken care of her with a calm, almost unnerving assertion that a celebration of their anniversary would be perfect. In reality it had been the total opposite; when he saw his wife sick, he knew already somewhere deep inside that day was going to be a lot different. He just didn't know how much, until she had asked him to grab a pregnancy test.

That right there had caught him by surprise. They had been married for three years now and they had talked about having children, but no matter how hard he fought to stay positive about the whole thing, he just couldn't and found himself slipping ever so quickly. He needed to get out of the house and when he did, he found himself coming undone as he looked upon the shelves of the store for a pregnancy test.

A store worker had pointed him in the way of an effective pregnancy test. He had numbly thanked him, grabbed the rest of the items that he had come for, paid for them and promptly left. Mind running in different directions, he then found himself sitting behind the steering wheel, keys hanging from the ignition. Sudden thoughts of running appeared in full force but then he saw a little child sitting there in a chair, crying. That's when he realized that running was not an option, especially since he had almost the love of his life. He couldn't stand for losing Rory again, or having his own child hating him and despising the very same reason he thought was right for leaving.

And when he had arrived home, he had gotten his answer. But Jess already knew that if he was going to do this; be a complete father to this unborn child, he was going to have to take care of something that he had left unsettled for years. The last time he had left to see his father, it hadn't exactly been for good intentions. He had been angry, and Jess had told him what he thought about him leaving and for being a lousy father.

This time however he would make sure his father knew of Rory's pregnancy if she was, and that if his father wanted to get involved with his grandchild then he would either have to, (a) Stick around for his or her entire life, or (b.) Stay out completely and never get a chance to be a part of his grandchild's life--ever. There would be no second chances to give, and Jess would make that clear as ice of his intentions when he got there. The same with his mother; if she wanted to skip around and hold hands with whatever man of the hour she was with rather than be with her own grandchild, then she didn't have to be there.

But when Jess had walked out of the house today, he had good intentions to not fail like his father and mother had. He knew that this was something that he had to do on his own. Yeah, he was still uneasy with calling himself father material, but inside both Jess and Rory knew that they would make it. Heck, Luke was a good person. Of course so was Lorelai. At least they could be counted on to be there if they were needed. Which Jess thought, _there would be a high chance of that happening. _He was sure of that.

Already he was sure that Lorelai had been to Rory's aid this morning after he had become speechless and unable to relay his thoughts to his wife about her being pregnant. Intentionally he had hoped that it would go that way, at least until he could get back. Until then; a note that he had written and hid in a place Rory would not see until the time was right. And until that happened, he would use to the time to think about his kid's future. He would do anything not to see their life go down the same road his or Rory's had.

-----

It had been fifteen minutes since she had called his office. Since that time she had been sitting in front of her closed computer, chin resting on the palm of her hand. She thought it wouldn't do any good to pace back and forth any longer than she had to after finding out that Jess had never been to his office today, and rather that he had called to cancel all meetings and anything that would progress and promote his new book.

The one book she had never read; the one that had been kept under wraps and one that she had been told that she could read when she felt better and could keep down a whole meal; but she wasn't hungry at this time so that wasn't relevant right now. Standing up, Rory noted that she was feeling better--in fact she felt more confusion that he had kept her in the dark, and her confusion was even more so when she found Jess' cell phone to be turned off.

Stepping away from the computer, Rory opened the closet door and grabbed her jacket. Since he wasn't available to answer her wrath, she was just going to have to go find out what he was doing, and she had a feeling that the answers she was seeking wouldn't be found anywhere close to home.


	8. Desperado

It was physically wrong to lead a person on. He knew what he was going to do, but hadn't talked to his wife before doing so. He had this on his mind what he was doing, week after week. Distracted, knowing that one day he would become a father. That day had come and he was sitting in the middle of another airport, hard chairs and all.

This was not where he wanted to be.

Letting out a sigh, Jess reached into his pocket to check his phone. He had put in on silent for a reason.

Fifteen missed calls.

Six new messages.

He knew already without listening to the messages that they were all from Rory. He closed his eyes, trying to listen to the flight calls on the speaker echoing throughout the airport, but all he could see was her. He could see that she was desperate to know where he was, if he was okay.

Clicking into his voicemail, he listened.

_"First new message." _The automated voice prompted, pausing. He listened as his recognizable phone number played through, then who it was from-"_Rory" _her voice had chimed through in one short note:

"_Hey you. I was wondering when you were coming home. I cleaned up the kitchen so I thought I could make that dinner I was going to make for our anniversary. So let me know when you'll be home. And I know that I haven't really told you this for awhile, but I love you."_

_"Next message." _the voice offered after he clicked to the next available message.

"_Jess? It's been two hours. Where are you?" _Rory's voice sounded exhausted, so tired. _"If you don't call, I'm calling over to your office to insist they send you home to your wife."_

The next message came ten minutes after the first.

_"Care to explain what the heck you were thinking? I called your office. The nice secretary told me that you didn't even come into work today. All your meetings, even your promotion for your book has been cancelled. You're not answering your phone. Please tell me that you didn't lie to me this morning when you kissed me goodbye this morning. Call me."_

Jess shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was starting to think this whole trip thing was a big mistake. And then he clicked over to the fourth message.

He was greeted with a sigh on the other end, and then the message ended. Like she was desperate to leave another message, but she was more in the middle of trying to form the right words to say. The fifth and six were identical, except the last words on the sixth message were "I'm heading to your office." It was apparent that she had not gotten the message that he had left for her, taped to her computer.

_"No more messages." _The automatic voice prompted. _"To.." _Without much effort Jess pulled the phone away from his ear and clicked the end button. Promptly he closed his phone, looking around the airport; more particularly at the gate check in. He still found it empty, just like it had been thirty minutes ago. Delay in flights seemed like they lasted longer then they really had to. That's why he, Jess Mariano, hated them with a passion. But this time it was his only ticket out of here.

Picking up the phone he dialed his home phone number. Rory's last phone call had come about thirty minutes ago, so she was probably still around at the office. Although he couldn't directly talk to her right now until he had pulled himself together, in order to figure out exactly how to explain this to her; this would have to work.

_"Hi you've reached Rory" _His wife's voice came through the speaker. _"...and Jess Mariano" _he had chimed in after her. _"We're not home right now." _they said together, with a rather cheerful tone. _"Please leave a message and we would be glad to get back to you."_

Jess couldn't help but chuckle a little. All the times it had taken them to actually record the message without laughing or messing up, or being serious enough to do so. And just like then he had to compose himself enough to leave a message.

_"Rory? Look I know you're not at home right now, but I need you to listen to me. I thought by now you would get the message that I left for you. I taped it just above your computer screen. It might not have been the best explanation, but please Rory, after you get home-you need to trust me on this. That there is a reason for my madness, and I never meant to worry you. That's the last thing I'd ever want to do to you. Look my plane is boarding now. I'll be home as soon as I can and then I will explain everything. I love you."_

With that he closed his phone and_ s_tood. He must have been burning more time than he originally thought. It was now half past nine and his seat section had just been called to board the airplane. By the time he was seated, Rory would have just arrived home to listen to the message; his phone would be turned off, which would buy more time to gather an excellent explanation for not telling the plan.

* * *

She tried not to let herself panic at her husband's absence. But it wasn't like him to leave without calling. At least that's what she kept telling herself. He had promised her many times that he would never leave her. Never again. She couldn't let herself think that he had broken his promise. Rory shook her head as she stepped into the building her husband worked in. Ducking to the side she pulled out her phone, then had second thoughts and placed her phone back into her bag.

What she didn't need right now was her mom having a full fledged on panic attack of rage, but at first glance she couldn't help feel a tad guilty that she was leaving her mom out of the loop. Not to mention, Luke. But he was another story and he would be harder to stop, especially if he knew that she, Rory Mariano was pregnant. Drinking coffee in the first semester would be cake compared to what he would do if he knew.

"Can I help you?" A secretary voice echoed throughout the front room. She was talking to another client; tall, skinny, long brown hair pulled up into a ponytail. As for the secretary she wore black rimmed glasses, in her mid forties and had an hour glass figure.

"Yeah, I have an appointment with Joe Dominopolous." The client spoke, in a low spoken tone. Almost like she didn't want to be heard. But with the constant ringing of the phone, chattering in the room, it was only for the drawing out of her voice by the echoing that anybody could really hear her if they listened.

"You know it's not polite to stare." A familiar voice drawled behind her. Rory turned around, putting the voice to a name. If it weren't Joe Dominopolous, himself. "Hey Rory. It's been awhile since we've talked. How are things? I haven't talked with Jess or you for what seems like ages."

_They could be better._

"Pretty good. I think things are genuinely moving along if you consider the business involved. How many kids do you and Sue have now? I saw at least two the last time we can over to celebrate Sue's birthday."

"Yeah, you saw Cindy, who's four now-and Kallie just turned two. Lilly who you haven't met yet has turned six months some time last week."

"Wow three daughters." Rory nodded uncomfortably, but Joe didn't seem to take notice. He was looking in the direction of the secretary desk, watching as the secretary nodded her head in the direction of some empty seats sitting against the wall and informed the lady that she could take a seat until he had arrived.

"That's my cue." He turned to face her, answering her earlier response. "They kids keep us busy that's for sure. You'll have to come by the office some time and I'll show you some pictures. I sware they grow like weeds. Probably have changed more than we all know." Nodding wordlessly, she could suddenly sense his rushing demeanor; quick words, fleeting glance.

"Well I should get going. I was just going to grab a book out of Jess' office before I went home." It took all remaining energy for Rory not to bolt away in the presence of Joe. Her mind was reeling for answers of her husband's whereabouts. Apparently Joe was probably out of the range of asking where her husband might be.

* * *

Handing the ticket to the person at the desk, Jess gave one last glance before thanking the person checking his ticket and headed to his seat on the airplane. Once there, he shoved his bag underneath the seat and laid back, repeating the conversation he had prepared to say to both his mother and father. Jess opened his eyes just in time to see a guy; built shoulders, forest green dress shirt and black slacks standing by the empty seat next to him.

"How's it going?" The man greeted Jess with a slightly gruff voice as he stuffed his own bag underneath the seat.

"Just dandy." Jess offered tiredly, knowing this was going to be a long ride until he touched landing.


	9. Trouble Brewing

She was desperate to know where he had gone. Over and over she heard his voice in her mind, telling there was a method to his madness. Having a 'method' was what he always talked about, whether it was when he was cooking up something new in the kitchen, showing his love for her, or when he was writing. And when that happened, it was like a bright spark lit up inside of him and he was a new man. The man she had fallen in love with.

"Can I help you?" A distant voice spoke through the ringing phones and fingers tapping on the keyboard. Rory looked up as she began to dig through her purse for the key to her husband's office. Not that she expected it to be locked during the middle of the day. It was more for a "just in case" rather.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, her eyes focused on a older woman who was trying to explain her needs at the front desk to a rather strawberry blond haired secretary. Rory slipped by carefully and was only noticed by a young girl who had beautiful blue eyes, and brown curls in her hair. The girl looked up at her carefully, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips as she watched with brilliant fascination.

"You're very pretty." The girl spoke in a quiet whisper as she tucked her legs under her purple dress.

Rory looked back at her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." And with that she passed, slipping through the door of her husband's office. A knot formed in her stomach as she closed the door from all the chatter and noise.

She walked closer to his desk where one single book sat on top of his calendar. Her fingers touched the binding of the bluish grey cover, duly titled "New York" Knowing his background of New York, everything was making a little more sense now. It both scared her and eased her worries at the same time. For at least she knew at least that was probably where he was. But then again she didn't know if him returning to New York meant that he was running away, even though he had promised her that he would never leave again.

Rory knew what she had to do. Hand slipping into her pocket, she pulled out her phone. One, two, three rings and somebody on the other line picked up.

"Farm house." Lorelai quipped from the other side. "We sell the craziness out of a bucket."

Raising the corner of her lips, Rory gave a generous smile. "The last time I checked you didn't own a farm house."

"My point exactly, hun. So I thought you were going to spend some time with Jess. What happened? I promise to kick his butt into gear if he's still not getting the point."

"He's gone." Rory blurted, running her hand over his desk; stopping to look at his calendar and then the book titled, 'New York'. She flipped through the pages very quickly, looking for anything highlighted or bookmarked, but there was nothing. "And I think I just figured out where he went."

"What do you mean Jess is gone?..." She trailed off, catching the sad inflection in Rory's tone. "Where?"

Pausing, Rory closed the book and traced her fingers over the raised lettering. "New York."

"Since when does he go back to New York?" Lorelai went off. "I think we should remind him how quickly he forget his promise."

"I don't know. He kissed me goodbye this morning and didn't even mention that he was going anywhere. I called and the nice secretary told me that he hadn't even come to work this morning and I didn't even realize. How could I have been so stupid to not know something was up? He was way to calm when I first told him about the pregnancy." Groaning, Rory sighed. "And I'm starving."

"Okay hun?" Lorelai stepped in before any more ranting to go on. "Where are you now?"

"At this moment...in his office staring at the book on his desk."

""What book?"

"The book titled 'New York.' "

"Oh hun. Stay there I'm bringing comfort food, and lots of it."

"From Luke's?" Rory perked up at the sound of comfort food, or rather any food inside her stomach. If at exactly that moment her stomach started to growl in protest; like she was craving anything and everything right now.

"The one and only, Luke Danes. From where else would I get the best hamburgers and fries in Stars Hollow?"

"Mom, stop...you're making me hungry and my stomach already growling from lack of food."

"Sorry hun, I forgot about how much those pregnancy hormones affect a person. I'll be right over."

"Okay."

"Chin up sweets. Mommy's going to make this all better, you just wait and see."

-----

When Lorelai had come into the diner with William in hand earlier, he knew immediately that something had come up. Something with Rory. Not like anything was any less peculiar with those two, but he knew when something was up.

_Since when did Rory put barbecue sauce on her hamburger with a mix of mustard? _

It was almost like when Lorelai was pregnant with their son, she was always constantly mixing things together. Craving lots of apples as well, which was a relief for awhile that she was at least getting some kind of fruit. As long as she could eat them, he served them.

"Caesar, I'm taking a break. Take over the diner would you?" With William in one hand, Luke took off the blue hat and placed it on William's head. Of course the hat was way entirely too big for his son's little head.

"Sure thing boss." Caesar called back, stepping out of the kitchen. He immediately noticed William waving his head back and forth and smiled. "Hey little guy." He ruffled the hat on the little boy before taking it off. "Boo."

William looked quickly in his direction, a smile appearing on his face. His little hands reaching for the cap, to which he quickly mimicked the peekaboo; his boo drawn out, smile drawing wider. Pretending to be frightened, Caesar hopped back, which had both of them giggling. "You're a funny kid." Tickling the little boys stomach had an increasing giggling running through the diner. "I'll see you later." He pointed to William, "customers are a calling."

Luke gave a surprise nuggie to his son before they headed upstairs into the quiet upstairs apartment. "What is your mommy up to?" He inquired, setting his son on his feet. William shrugged, running over to his toys in the corner of the room.


	10. In Need of Comfort

Had to get this chapter up today because I'm starting class tonight, and I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to write. So enjoy the nice read. And yes, if you don't notice by the end that I've left you on a cliffhanger...then tough luck? Or am I just plain evil?

----

"Rory?" Lorelai called into the dark office, almost sneakily as she stepped into the room and closed the door. There was no answer as she found the desk, turning on the light. What she found was Rory curled up fast asleep on the couch. She sighed, setting the full paper sacks on the desk and carefully sat next to Rory, careful not to put too much of the weight into the side of the cushion.

"Mom?" Softly Rory inquired, and rather quite sleepily. She tried to sit up but didn't seem to have the energy. Even through the haze she was feeling, she really was starting to dislike all the symptoms of pregnancy. Was this normal to feel all dizzy and sick? In fact the smell of food seemed to increase the nausea that she was feeling. She felt like she needed to throw up, but there was nothing to really throw up. What she had eaten for lunch had pretty much all been digested, and she had forgotten to eat dinner.

Lorelai ran her hand through her daughter's hair. "Hey Hun, how are you feeling?"

"Kind of like somebody hit me with a dizzy sledgehammer." Rory offered, hoping her mom would catch onto the referenced word.

"If I've learned anything about pregnancy, it's water is a pregnant person's best friend. How much water have you drank?"

"I don't know--" She could hardly think through the dizziness. "I had some for lunch."

"Well my dear, I would hate to have to drag you to the ER with a sign on your forehead that reads: My daughter needs help."

"Fine, point taken. Give me a hand." I need to sit up before I throw up on this green colored couch.

"That bad, huh?"

"Much worse than some horror movie." Rory groaned, sitting upright. Her left hand was curled up, resting on her stomach as if she were clutching any hope that she wouldn't have to see if any remaining contents of her stomach. "What all did you bring?" She mentioned of the bag, the smells wafting towards them. Even inside the bag, the food smelled delicious and nauseating at the same time.

"Two hamburgers, fries--" Grabbing for the bag, she reached in. "And I even stopped at the store on my way here because I thought you might need this." She handed Rory a can of 7 Up and some crackers, then fumbled inside her bag still on her shoulder. "Oh and before I left the house, I put this little stowaway in my bag. Every woman's guide to pregnancy. I thought you might be able to use this a little more than I can at the moment. "

Rory didn't move, instead looking curiously at the book that her mother set between them on the couch. "_What to Expect When Your Expecting. _This is the book I always saw you reading when you were pregnant with William."

"The one and only." Lorelai quipped, pulling out her hamburger from the bag. "Sookie gave it to me to borrow, and now I'm letting you borrow it."

"And you're sure Sookie wouldn't mind that you're letting me borrow it? Especially since I'm probably not going to give it back until way after nine months."

Lorelai laughed. "Would she ever. Something tells me that she wasn't expecting to have any more kids after the first two when she let me borrow the book. Of course you know Sookie. I think she was more surprised than anybody that Jackson had slipped past that big nurse at the hospital after delivering Martha; probably even more surprised when she found out she was pregnant with baby number three. Something tells me she's way past the book phase in her life."

The cracker package crinkled underneath Rory's fingers as she opened it. "Poor Sookie." Taking one of the crackers out, she stuffed the whole thing into her mouth. She was starving, but now she realized that the hamburger wasn't quite appealing as the crackers.

"Slow down their firecracker, there's plenty of crackers to go around." Lorelai warned, taking a bite of her own hamburger.

"Tell that to the growing thing in my stomach." Rory rubbed her stomach, swallowing. Without much thinking she swiped another cracker and it crumbled into her mouth.

"Easy sugar, you're tempting fate." Lorelai eyed her, then snatched the package from her hands. "More like throw up on the green couch fate."

There was an apparent muffled "Oh" as Rory kept chewing, although slower this time.

"Want to talk about it?"

"About what? The fact that I'm starving. Or how about, who knew that crackers tasted so good?"

"How about those yankees?" Lorelai quipped, sticking the crackers on the other side of her.

"What?"

"Nevermind. About Jess, Rory. You haven't mentioned him once since I got here a half an hour ago."

"And what if I told you that I was so hungry that I want to eat myself into oblivion? Give me those crackers."

Lorelai shook her head. "How about mother may I?"

"I'm not really in the mood to--." Rory offered, then changed her mind when her mother shot her a pointed look. "Fine. Mother may I please have the crackers? I promise that I'll be good."

"Fine, but only for a little while, then you need this juicy hamburger over here that's calling your name." She grabbed the bag, strategically placing her face behind it. "Rory, this is the hamburger in the bag talking to you. I want you to eat me!"

"Very funny."

Laughing, Lorelai commented, I thought so..." smiling her wide teasing smile. Eventually in that same moment, Lorelai handed over the crackers.

"Thank you."

Lorelai went back to eating her hamburger while Rory casually picked at pieces of cracker that she broke off and slowly placed into her mouth. Everything in the room was silent, until she piped again. Her hamburger plopped down into the stryofoam box. "So you're really not going to talk about him?"

"If I knew what I thought about all this, I would. I mean it all feels like the moment when he came begging at the doorstep. Except he's in New York. But why wouldn't he tell me, mom? I'm his wife. We haven't had a normal conversation in, and things are awkward between us; even after I told him about the baby. He acted so calm--" By the time she got to this point, Rory was crying out in frustration. "I can't do this alone."

"Oh no hon, you won't be doing this alone. I promise. We're going to bring Jess home, and then we're going to pummel him with a food fight until he talks. If that doesn't work, then you always have me, Luke, Sookie, Lane and of course no matter how supportive they are, you always have your grandparents who love you dearly."

"Yeah, I'm sure what grandma and grandpa want to hear is that there's turmoil between the two of us." Rory gave a little laugh.

"Ah, well you know your grandparents; very understanding people." Lorelai emphasized briefly on the last three words. "Their motto is: If you don't get the very best, they'll beat you with a stick."

Rory chuckled, then abrubtly stopped. Her face was crestfallen, her mouth tightened into a frown. "Mom?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't feel so good. And I don't think it's the crackers that are talking--"

Lorelai gazed down at her daughter, only to see that her daughter's face was white as a sheet, eyes heavy. "Stay with me Rory. What day is it?"

"Why it's Tuesday. Mom, I think I need to lay down."

"Will you be able to get up?" That was meant as a quip, but came off more concerned as she reached into her bag. She didn't even correct Rory that Today was Thursday, not Tuesday.

"Who are you calling?" Rory inquired, rubbing her forehead and leaning her head back on the couch; no longer able to keep her head up without feeling as if she were swimming.

"Luke, Rory. I'm calling Luke."

---

A/N: If you've read all the way here to the bottom, please remember to leave a review. I can't read minds, no. And I can't see invisible people, but I wish that I could. So I'll say it again: REVIEW! Let me know what you thought. Or if I'm evil (I'll take that too).


	11. Breathe In, Breathe Out

"Come on, we're going."

"Going where?" Rory inquired tiredly. She didn't feel like moving, and she didn't intend on moving either. Right here was fine, just fine. At least her head didn't feel like it was swimming when she laid with her head against the couch. Not only that, not moving made her feel like she could have a decent conversation.

Luke looked over at Lorelai, "Are you going to tell what's going on, or am I going to have to guess?" as he picked up Rory carefully from her place on the couch. Rory moaned at the movement. Her head was spinning again. She hated the feeling and cursed not ever to feel like this again.

"Probably not something we should tell you while you're holding me."

Gazing down at her, Luke eyes lit up. "Oh right. You probably want to--" When she didn't answer and kept her breath at a steady breathe in, breathe out movement, he rushed her to the door. Lorelai quickly opened the door for them with her free hand.

They followed out in the waiting room almost to the point that it was crowded. "Just visiting the office here people. Nothing to see, move along." Lorelai informed to their stares, rushing past them. She let out a breathe that she didn't know that she had been holding when they reached the outside of the building. Rory was limp in his arms. William whined and squirmed in her arms. His little arms were reaching out to Rory, and when she didn't respond he started to squirm even more. It was heartbreaking to watch his little arms reach out to nothing but broken air, and his little lips pouting in the deepest frown that she had ever witnessed.

"Ry. Ry. Ry!" Ry was William's nickname for Rory when he was younger. Apparently to this day, the name stuck and he kept repeating her name as Lorelai placed him in his carseat on the other side. Luke lifted Rory up in the car, forgetting about his own safety, and nestled her in his lap. If the moment wasn't bittersweet enough, William leaned over, gently touching her cheek softly. The kid was smart. "Ry? sleeping?"

"Yeah." Luke covered up, his voice breaking as he stole a glance at Lorelai who's eyes were glittering with unspilt tears. "Sleeping."

As if catching the exchange, William looked up at her."Mama? What wrong?"

"I wish I could tell you kid." Lorelai spoke truthfully, her fingers brushing through his hair briefly before, then shut the door. After Luke had arrived, Lorelai had stepped out and called Dr. Ferguson, her OBGYN. She explained the situation about Rory, and of course she encouraged them to bring Rory to the hospital, which what they were complying to right now. Fainting was never a good sign and worried both Luke and Lorelai more than they chose to let on.

In fact so much that through the whole ride over, neither one said a word. Even William was quiet, staring out the window nonstop until they had arrived in front of the hospital. Dr. Ferguson came through the sliding doors, gurney and all. Luke exchanged a knowing glance with Lorelai upon seeing Dr. Ferguson; and if he hadn't been getting the picture before, he was sure getting one now.

He gave Dr. Ferguson an awkward glance as he set Rory on the gurney. This whole moment made his own head rush. The doctor specifically being Lorelai's OBGYN meant a lot of different possibilties, but what fit to the strange cravings he saw Rory having, and the only word that popped up in his head was pregnancy. And then the thought clicked as he looked from Rory, to the doctor.

It was an odd sense of familiarity that crept over him as he quickly looked back down to Rory. He had put his hands in his pocket without realizing it. In a way he felt a wave of shock, but shook it off quickly as he looked around for Lorelai and William. He turned around to see that Lorelai was struggling with her emotions and couldn't get the strap unhooked from the harness on William's carseat.

But before he could go over, Dr. Ferguson called out to him. "We'll let you know as soon as we have any news." One glance in Lorelai's direction, she signaled another nurse to help take Rory, and then followed them inside. He nodded almost afterwards and then went to help Lorelai out. He put one hand on Lorelai's shoulder and she stepped back as he stepped in and unloosened the harness clip, easily lifting William into his arms.

"Ry?" his lip pouted out as he pointed with his index toward the doors where he saw Rory dissapear to. All Lorelai could do was lean over and kiss his forehead as they walked into the ER waiting room. Both Luke and Lorelai had their arms wrapped around the other in comfort. "Mama, Ry hurt?"

It was hard to be too serious about the sitiuation because William was still so young; understood a lot, but some things couldn't be explained enough. "Not hurt baby. Rory just doesn't feel well and the doctor is going to fix her up just like new."

"New?" William inquired curiously, squirming to get down.

Luke set him down on his feet quickly. "I'm going to see if there's any paperwork to fill out." He adjusted his cap, then left to walk over to the nurse's station.

"Mama, I play?" William's innocent eyes looked to where all the other kids in the waiting room were playing.

"Sure kid, knock yourself out."

----

"So I filled out the paperwork just now--" Sitting down, Luke watched as William played with the toys around the other kids in the waiting room. "He sure seems to like those toys."

"Yep, they almost look like his toys at home." Lorelai quipped, crossing her legs.

"You okay?"

"Me? Not really. I mean Rory was rolled in on some gurney, Luke. She wasn't acting normal because of apparently some lack of communication between her and Jess."

"So that's what happened. I mean that's why Jess isn't here."

"Yeah, sort of. That and a lack of eating and drinking. I'm not sure when the last time she actually had a decent drink of water." Lorelai couldn't help but ramble. She was worried and felt like she just wanted to take Rory and pull her into some big hug.

"So you mean to tell me that because of a lack of communication between her and Jess, she just passed out?"

"No, I mean yes. No. Well kind of. That's part of the reason."

Luke gazed in the direction of the closed doors by the nurse's station. "Care to tell me why your doctor is in there examining Rory?"

"You really want to know don't you?" In a way Lorelai looked almost amused, knowing that he probably already knew from earlier when Dr. Ferguson had met them at the door.

"Yes Lorelai, I really want to know."

"Okay well here's all the juicy details. Rory's pregnant and Jess just up and left without leaving any verbal message for Rory. Rory then freaks out and calls me while raiding Jess' office." She blurted out while lowering her voice so that only he could hear, but she gazed over in William's direction anyway just to make sure, then made a clean gazed sweep around the room to double check. No one had moved, no one was looking.

"Wow, Jeez." Rubbing at his neck, his jaw set. "Jess really did that? Jeez. That's just not like him."

"Yeah well, I'm sure we'll make him give a detailed explanation when he gets back."

"Wait, so you found him? Where's he at? I mean not that I would go there or anything." Luke shrugged, almost as if her indicating some form of innocence if he did.

"He's in New York. Rory found a book on his desk."

"And you're sure that he's in New York."

"I'm pretty sure he is." Putting her bag back on her shoulder, Lorelai grasped her phone in her hand and leaned forward in her seat. "Can you watch William? I have somebody that I need to call." She stood, facing him.

"Sure."

"And you just reminded me again why I love you." Lorelai kissed his lips with a smile, then walked away.


	12. Brown Eyes

In tired strides, Lorelai walked back to the waiting room. When she had rounded the corner, William was asleep in the next chair over from him.

"The kid can sleep anywhere." He gazed over at his son, pulling up on his jacket that was draped over William's small body.

"Yeah he can." Quietly she reached over and brushed her hand through her William's hair. It was her favorite thing to do. "Any word on Rory?"

Shaking his head, Luke put one hand on her shoulder as she sat down. "No, nothing. I asked the nurse at the desk but she had nothing new to tell me. At least not anything we didn't know already."

"What could possibly be taking them so long?" She thought about it, then turned towards him while her eyes were wide as saucers. "Luke, what if something happened to Rory, or she got abducted and no one noticed of her disappearance?"

"Rory did not get abducted by aliens, we're in a hospital; they are meant to be safe and a very big part of the healing process. Look." He pointed out where they were, although that reality was settling in, he still couldn't help cringing being here. But if anything, he wished the doctor would come out and tell them something-but as ten minutes passed without so much as a word, Luke let his hand rest on the small of her back.

At the sudden gesture, Lorelai gazed up at him with pain filled eyes. "I just want to know if she's okay, Luke. I want to know that she's living and breathing and still my daughter who I helped raise from birth." She rambled at a lower speed, letting her head rest against the wall; eyes closing.

She didn't move for several minutes, so Luke leaned over in her direction to see if she had fallen asleep. "Who could sleep in these chairs?" The inquiry of her question had Luke jumping back in surprise and answering his unspoken question of if she had fallen asleep, at the same time. He waited to see if she was going to open her eyes and make some sort of quip, but she was quiet, resting as best as her tired body would let her, so he settled in as well and let his head rest against the wall. But just as he was about fall asleep, her voice came through again. "Luke, you awake?"

He sighed; eyes still closed. "I am now." Internally he groaned, feeling another round of silence. It was late now and the ER was surprisingly not filled up, and things were pretty quiet since the last time they had all been fully awake. "What is it Lorelai?"

"These chairs are uncomfortable." She protested, shifting around.

"Would it help if you slept in my lap?" Luke asked, half asleep. Of course the suggestion wasn't exactly realistic, but underlined with a hint of sarcasm. In a way he worried too, but they were exhausted and it was late now.

"I would get up, but I can't seem to move." Her response was numb, filled with sleep. She hadn't moved an inch since she had laid her head back.

"You don't say..." Luke trailed off, sleep filling his thoughts. In fact that was the last thing he remembered until he felt his shoulder being shaken some time later.

"Luke? Wakie, wakie."

"What is it Lorelai?" Luke mumbled, not yet realizing the fact that his body had practically molded into the chair.

"I think the doctor is going to come out and talk to us soon."

"You think, or you know?" Sitting up painfully, Luke stretched as best as he could; careful that he didn't wake up William in the process. "What time is it?" He relented, adjusting the cap on his head.

"Ten-thirty, and I just have a feeling." She offered, half distracted, looking back and forth from the nurse's station to the oak doors. She stayed like that until the door opened, and she exclaimed "Bingo!" and stood up briskly as walked out, then stopped. She had long blond curly hair, about five foot six.

Luke and Lorelai exchanged a glance, then he stood up. "Right here." A half wave from Lorelai ushered the doctor over quickly, then tucked her hands together, but that still didn't cut out any of the anxiousness out what they could be informed of.

Luke stuffed his hands in his pocket. "How is she?"

She looked over both of them, then over to William and gave a welcoming smile. "Rory is stable. Now she has a mild case of dehydration, so we're slowly hoping to get some of those fluids replaced. Like most pregnancies that I've seen over the years as a doctor, Rory is also suffering from exhaustion. I'm going to assume that she's like you Lorelai and experiencing many symptoms while trying to take on a full loaded schedule at the same time."

"Only guilty as charged." Lorelai quipped, holding up her hand.

Dr. Ferguson smiled, "Well then you know how it goes. Rory is going to have to take it easy if she doesn't want another trip to the ER." then let her hand rest on Lorelai's shoulder. "You can go see her if you want, but I want to keep her overnight at least so we can replace all the fluids that she's lost."

"So she's alright then?"

"Yes, she's quite alright. In fact she's wide awake and asking for all of you." The doctor in her mid- forties turned then called back, "If you'd follow me— I'll even take you right to her."

Lorelai started to follow her, but Luke grabbed her hand, gently looking at their sleeping son. By that time, Dr. Ferguson had turned back around as well. "It's alright if we bring him back?" Luke sucked in a deep breath. He really hated hospitals. In fact, he had almost passed out when Lorelai was in labor with William, just because he was standing there in a hospital.

Dr. Ferguson was the one to answer. "Very. I'm sure Rory would like to see him as well." Turning on one heel, she walked at a slower pace, conversing with one of the nurses at the station, so they could catch up.

"You going to be alright?" Lorelai had turned to him as he scooped up William from the chair.

"Yeah. I mean why wouldn't I be? Rory's fine, everybody's fine."

"Luke? You're rambling. And that only means one thing. You're not going to pass out on us are you?"

"No, I am not going to pass out." Relenting, he rubbed William's back to sooth him back to sleep.

"Daaaddy. Whre we goin?" William inquired tiredly, raising his head from his shoulder; chin delicately balancing his head, eyes closed.

"We're going to see Rory."

"Ry Ry?" He exclaimed happily, rubbing his eyes with the balls of his fists. The little boy sat up quickly, looking around as they quickly disappeared from the waiting room, behind the wooden doors. "Where she is daddy?" He rubbed his fists into his eyes again, trying to wake up quicker than he was able, then laid his head back down on his shoulder; eyes drooping.

"She's just around the corner." Dr. Ferguson called back, and then addressed both Lorelai and Luke. "We're waiting for the okay to get her into a room, so I put her in the farthest curtain away from all the commotion. I'll let you know when we move her upstairs."

"Thanks." Luke offered as they both stared ahead. He took in a deep breath and heard Lorelai do the same, although a deeper intake. By the expression on her face, he saw the lines of worry as she stepped forward and pulled back the curtain.

There sat Rory, slightly curled under a thin white sheet and blanket- broken but relieved as her expression registered their arrival. She sat up slowly, wordlessly hugging her mother, and then looked around her to see Luke holding William as well.

"Luke." Her voice was soft, cracking. "My knight and shining armor. I guess I have you to thank for getting me here. Although the whole thing is still a bit fuzzy."

"Ah well-" Luke fumbled. "It was really nothing. I'm just glad you and the baby are okay."

Shrugging, Lorelai informed her. "He pretty much figured it out on his own kid."

"Ah drats." Rory snapped her fingers. "I guess that free coffee is off the list."

"And a number of other things too." Luke added, sitting on the edge of the bed, stepping forward. "William wanted to see you. I guess he's a little tired since it's past his bed time."

"No sweepies." William protested, rubbing his eyes. "Ry Ry?"

"I'm here kid."She smiled sadly at her little brother, hoping he would see through it as he turned and smiled happily at her; holding his hands out to her that he would be freed. Luke obliged and set him on the bed, and he clumsily climbed over to her, throwing his little arms around her neck. "Miss ewe."

"I missed you too."

Luke watched the exchange closely, while in thought. He could tell that Rory was hurting, and when he saw those brown eyes of Jess', they were going to have a little chat, to make sure that they never broke another heart. Jess would either have to choose to be in the picture, or stay out of it. This was his last and final chance.


	13. High Tension

It seemed too soon when Jess found himself standing in front of his father's house. The trip over had taken a lot longer than he thought, and it was already growing late. Almost to emphasize the late hour, Jess gazed at his watch as he walked up the concrete stairs.

The house seemed bigger than he remembered. Although his father had never moved, it had been awhile since he had paid him a visit.

Not caring if he was quiet or not—letting his presence be known—Jess knocked on the door quickly. His breath swirled in the air. Funny, because he didn't remember it getting cold—or maybe he hadn't been paying attention. For most of the time over here, he was just focused on trying to remember the way, and couldn't stop thinking about what he was going to say to his father.

By the time the door creaked open, Jess could feel the icy rain on his skin. His father now had a scruffier look as he leaned against the door. "Jess?" The patio came on with a flick of a switch.

"What are you doing here?" His father was wearing a dark blue dress shirt and black jeans, as if he had just arrived home from work— but it was hard to think of his father as anything other than a person who could care less.

"Just paying you a little visit."

"For what? Jess—I haven't seen you in what four years?"

"My point exactly. See, I didn't even have to say it. You seem to get that you were a lousy father, but I'm not going to be you." Jess argued, quite irritated.

"So I heard. This visit is probably why I got a message from Luke, asking me if I knew where you were. Something you not picking up your phone." His father ignored the insults, "I think you'd better come in and sit awhile."

"That's all I came to say to you." Holding his hands up, Jess started to back up and walk away.

"I think you're going to want to hear what I have to say!"

"No thanks." Jess refused walking towards the driveway and taking his keys out of his pocket; unlocking the door to the rental car.

"It's about Rory, Jess." His father called out, almost in pleading tone for him to hear him out.

"What?" Jess whipped around, trying to figure out if this was some latest joke that his father was dishing out on his behalf. His father was standing on the patio, with a serious look on his face. The front door was closed now, as if blocking out the impending argument.

"The phone call from Luke—"His father hesitated, rubbing at his arms. "It was about Rory." Jess could only stare at him; the ringing in his airs almost caused him to miss the rest of the conversation. "She's okay. You should at least come inside—grab some coffee— it's freezing out here."

"This better not be a way to get me you to meet your family—because you might just find that I punched a hole in your wall." Were the only words Jess offered, before walking into the house.

As they walked out of the hospital after visiting Rory—William asleep with his head resting on Luke's shoulder—Lorelai reflected about their son. "He's almost too big to be held now." It was both a happy and sad thing, in her eyes. Sad; Like Rory—William was growing up way too quickly. Happy; since William had been her and Luke's miracle baby.

When Lorelai had found out that she had been pregnant with Rory, it had been quite a scary thing, but she had made it work. After their many breakups and Christopher leaving, Lorelai had always found herself wanting another child—exception that it be with someone she truly loved and spent the rest of her life with.

"He is." Luke sighed and smiled at her. He had always treated Rory as his daughter; always protected her, and was like the father that she had missed out on as a child. And when he held William in his arms for the first time: well that look still hadn't gone away, almost three years later.

"My baby is going to be a mom." Lorelai felt his hand squeeze hers in support, at the sad tone in her voice. "I'm not just going to be a mom anymore, but a grandma."

"You raised a good kid—" Luke offered, trailed off thoughtfully. It was apparent that he was thinking about Jess, among other things.

"Who's going to be devastated if she doesn't find out what happened to her husband."

"So, I called Jimmy." Luke confessed as they walked along the parking lot.

"You didn't. When?" Her eyes sparkled with interest, as she stopped where the light hit the asphalt. "What did he say, Luke?"

"Well, as far as I know—they haven't talked in almost four years. He said that he hadn't seen him—and if he did happen to come his way—then he would be sure to let us know."

Lorelai let out a small disappointed sigh at his confession. She had been hoping just as much as he had that he would know where Jess had gone, since they had now called his friends, mom, dad and his office—all of them giving the same answer . . . that they didn't know where he was, and if they did find him—to let them know. They had even called his phone over a dozen times, which each time they would proceed to get his voicemail.

"Why would he leave without telling Rory? He hurt her—after promising that he would never leave again, Luke."

"He'd better have a good explanation for leaving." Luke fumed, and then sighed. "Unfortunately, we won't know that explanation until we can locate where he is."

"He's in New York, Luke. The city of the Big Apple."

"I know that! That we know that." It was silent until they reached the car, and Luke had buckled William up in his car seat with not so much as a stir. It was already eleven-thirty and they were both exhausted—so tension was high. "Let's just go home and sleep on it. We both need to be able to support Rory tomorrow when she gets released from the hospital."

"I'm sure she's going to want some carrots with that doughnut." Lorelai quipped, getting into the car.


End file.
